First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to sack Humza Yousaf, her “failing” Health Secretary, after hospitals recorded their worst ever accident and emergency waiting times.

Labour issued the demand after new figures showed more than 9,600 patients waited more than four hours in the emergency department in the final week of October.

In the week ending October 30, just 63.1 percent of patients were treated and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the target time.

The Scottish Government’s target is for 95 percent of those attending in A&E to be dealt with within four hours.

But the latest figures from Public Health Scotland showed that in the week ending October 30, of the 26,052 patients who went to A&E, the four-hour target was missed for 9,617.

There were 3,393 patients who were in A&E for eight hours or more, with 1,447 there for a minimum of 12 hours.

In the wake of the latest data, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf issued a plea for people to only go to A&E “if their condition is an emergency”.

He told people: “We all have a part to play in reducing pressure on services this winter.”

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